Chapter 3

After announcing to the man in the loincloth that he was Jane's fiancé, Logan watched the strange man make a hasty retreat into the jungle after the woman.

"What was that all about?" he pondered. The young man obviously knew Jane, seeing as to how quickly the wild man jumped in to try and protect his future wife. The man had even appeared shocked when he had spoken of his plans to marry the young woman.

Something wasn't right here.

It had been almost a year since Jane left with her father to come to Africa. Far too long to simply come and study the gorillas. As the months had rolled by with no word from his fiancée, fear started to seep into his veins. Something had to have happened to keep Jane from returning home as planned. Making the arrangements to journey out here after the woman was difficult, but seeing Jane again . . . that had made it all worth it.

He had assumed that when he came for her, Jane would be ecstatic to see him again. Logan didn't know how many times he had pictured seeing her beautiful smile appear on her face and having her eyes light up at the sight of him after all this time, but that hadn't happened. The way her eyes had widened in shock, and her sprint back into the jungle. His pretty, smart, and bubbly Jane had seemed to be almost . . . scared of him.

Turning around, Logan spotted two of the workers that he had seen when he had first arrived. One of the men – the tall, skinny one – was taking a break from his labor, sitting down on a box that had been placed on the deck. His chubby, short friend was leaning against another container close by. He believed he had heard someone address them as Hugo and Hooft.

"Excuse me!" Logan called to the pair as he approached. "That 'wild man' that was just here, do you know him?"

"Sure," exclaimed the fat one, pushing himself away from the crate. "Nature boy saved our lives not too long ago."

"Why do you ask?" the skinny one added, leaning forward on his box.

Ignoring the question, Logan continued his prodding. "Is something going on between him and Jane?"

"Going on?" the skinny one repeated.

"They're married, if that's what you mean," the other spoke up.

Logan felt his heart skip a beat in his chest at the news. He stared at the two men in shock. "Married?" he slowly asked. "Are you sure?"

The two men shared a confused look with each other before turning back to face him.

"Pretty sure," one of them nodded.

"Tarzan has been married to Jane for almost a year now."

"Wait, hold on!" Terk cried, leaping down from the chair she had been sitting on. She strolled over towards Jane on her hands and feet. Reaching her destination, she pointed a finger at the young female. "You're telling me that you were engaged to another man?!"

Jane and Tarzan were discussing their situation with Terk, Tantor, and Jane's father – the Professor. The group had gathered in the Professor's camp to decide what they were going to do about their new visitor.

Jane sighed and shook her head slowly back and forth. "It was a long time ago . . . and a part of me wanted out of the engagement from the beginning."

Terk sent her a glare before turning her back on the woman. The young gorilla had been a source of encouragement for the wild man ever since he became the pack's leader. Because of this, Jane didn't take Terk's action to heart. The gorilla was only concerned about her friend.

"Oh, come on Terk," Tantor spoke up, as the gorilla stormed by him. "Jane already said she doesn't love the guy. She wants to stay here with Tarzan."

As the two friends began to bicker back and forth about the issue at hand, Tarzan and Jane turned towards the Professor.

"I'm sorry about this, dear boy," the old man sympathized, placing a hand on Tarzan's shoulder. "I never thought Logan would come all this way to try and bring Jane back to England." Leaving his hand where it was on his son-in-law, he turned to look over at his daughter. "Surely if we just explain to him what happened . . . that you decided to marry someone else . . ."

Jane let out another sigh before making eye contact with her father. "Worth a try, I guess," she began with a shrug. "But I really can't see him giving up on this very easily, especially after making the trip all the way out here to find me. I mean . . . the cost of getting a ship and crew together, the time to travel all the way out here. He obviously went through a lot to make it this far. I can't see him agreeing to go back empty-handed very easily."

"True," her father agreed, nodding to himself. "A trip out here from London is not an easy one to arrange, but that just proves how much the man cares about you." He held up a hand as Jane attempted to interrupt him. "I'm saying you need to talk to him. If Logan really does care about you this much, he would want you to be happy. You just need to tell him the truth."

After getting himself back under some control from his initial shock, Logan asked the two young men if they would be able to escort him through the jungle to find his fiancée and her supposed husband. He needed to hear the news from Jane herself.

Hugo and Hooft agreed, and after getting permission from their boss to leave, the three men set out into the dense cover of trees.

Logan Eddington had never been much of an outdoorsy type. The icy, bitter wind of the winters back in England made him shiver just thinking about it, and in the summer he hated the feeling of sweat matting his forehead after venturing out into the heat.

Now, hiking through the cover of trees, Logan had never felt a heat so scorching. The cover from the towering trees didn't seem to be helping his situation at all. Sweat quickly started to drip down every inch of his body, making him feel irritable. It didn't take long for him to start feeling extremely uncomfortable in his heavy brown coat.

It wasn't only the boiling sun that was causing Logan's angry to grow, but he was becoming more and more discomforted with his new surroundings. Nothing about the jungle was familiar to him, from the exotic wildlife to the sounds of the wild animals. Every growl or hiss that he heard around him made him jump and spin around in search of the source of the noise.

Every fiber in his body was screaming at him to turn back for the ship and return to England where he had all the comforts of home, but he had to at least talk to Jane first. He had to know if the young woman was truly happy here in this landscape. If she really insisted on staying here . . . he would have to find a way to change her mind.